Ava's pov

      The next day I get ready for another day of school. I get dressed in clothes that I think Pricilla will approve and I do some light makeup. I drink my normal smoothie on the way to school and park in my usual parking spot.
      When I walk into my 1st period Pricilla is on her phone and Brandon is missing from his seat. I sit down right as the bell rings and I wonder where Brandon is. Pricilla greets me with a quick look over at my outfit and smiles to her self. Just then the door opens and Brandon walks in. My lips part when I see his bruised eye and cut lip. My eyes follow him as he sits down.

"You're late Brandon," my teacher says. Brandon doesn't say anything and I quickly glue my eyes to the board no matter how much I want to turn around and demand him to tell me how he got his face so messed up.
     The entire class I tune out my teacher and think about Brandon. When the bell rings I am awaken from my trance. Pricilla is the first one out of the door. Brandon walks past me and I quickly grab my bag and rush after him.

"Brandon!" I say running out of the classroom. I know he heard me but he kept walking. I watched him turn the corner and I sighed. I looked over to see Jesica leaning on her locker staring at me.

"What was that about?" She asked.
"Nothing," I said walking over to her.
"Yeah it was," she said looking me dead in the eye. "Ava, do you like him?" She asked.
"No, I told you, we're lab partners," I said. She gave me a look.
"Maybe, I don't know," I said giving up.
"Have you guys been spending a lot of time together? Is that why Pricilla is always mad at you?" She asked.
"Yeah, and yeah, I just......"
"You don't want to hang out with her, you would rather hang out with Brandon Meyers than go shopping or waste your money getting manicures," she concluded.
"You make it sound like a bad thing," I said.
"It's not, it's just weird, it's like after..." she started but then stopped.
"You can say it."
"After your mom died you flipped a switch in your brain or something," she said. I sighed.
"Does Pricilla hate me for that?"
"I think she just doesn't understand, everyone has issues even if you're as popular as us," she smiled. I smiled.
"We're going to be late," she said.
"I'll see you at lunch," I said walking away.

After school I went to dance. I needed to dance after everything that has happened today. After my 2 hour class I go home. I'm tired and really hungry. I go straight to the fridge when I set my things down and grab some left over spaghetti and heat it up in the microwave. I sit down at one of the bar stool and switch on some low music. The microwave beeps and I quickly take it out and start eating. My mind wanders back to Brandon. Did I totally misread him? Everyone has issues. Even the best people.
      The doorbell interrupted me from my thoughts and I quickly turned off my music and headed towards the door. I could see Brandon's dark hair in the window.
I opened the door and there stood Brandon. He looked stressed out. He looked at me and I opened the door wide enough for him to come through. He came inside and I shut the door. There were several beats of silence and then he met my eyes.

"I'm sorry about today," he said. I nodded.
"Who did that to you?" I asked. He looked down.
"My dad," He said quietly. Hi dad? Of course! It all made sense now.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I suggested. He nodded.
"Can we sit down?" I nodded and lead him into the living room. We both sat down on the couch. He clasped his hands together and rested his arms on his legs. I waited patiently for him to start talking.

"It started when I was 9, my dad started drinking. My dad has always drank but he started not coming home at night and in the middle of the night I would hear my mom get up in the middle of night and go pick him up. Since I was nine he would come home and hit me." He said and then taking a break.
"Instead of him taking it out on my mom or brother I take the hits. Last night my mom got angry and lost her tempter and I jumped in front of her before he could hurt her." My lips parts as my eyes grazed over his bruised eye and cut lip.

"Brandon, why don't you call the cops? Or social services?" I asked. He looked at me.
"Because I'm scared, Ava. I scared of him and what will happen to our family," he said. Sadness poured into my eyes.
"You can't keep letting yourself get hurt because you are protecting them," I said. He nodded, understanding what I was saying.
"You're the first person I've ever told," he said after some silence.
"I'm glad," I said offering him a small smile. He returned it. I felt so bad for him. I wish I could help him. I stood up and walked over to the cabinet by the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of vodka. I handed it to him and he gladly accepted it and unscrewed the cap. He took a swig and sat back on the couch.

"Life is so hard," I said flopping down beside him. He laughed and took another swig and then offered the bottle to me. I took it and took a long swig. The alcohol burned my throat but I didn't care. It felt good.

The next thing I knew the bottle was almost empty and Brandon were drink as hell. I had my music on and we were dancing around the living room singing loudly to the music. I felt so carefree. I kept laughing at everything Brandon would say and I felt as if I were on a cloud. It was almost midnight and Brandon and I were laying side by side talking about the ceiling where the big glass chandelier hung. I started to feel myself slowly started to fall asleep and soon I was and so was Brandon.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw sunlight shining through the window. I slowly sat up and then I realized I had a headache. I looked beside me to find Brandon gone. What time is it? I slowly got up and then I smelled something. Pancakes. I walked in the kitchen and saw Brandon, shirtless, flipping pancakes. He looked up and smiled.

"Look who's up," he said.
"Put a shirt on," I said as I clutched my head and sat in one of the bar stools.
"Good morning to you too," he chuckled.
"How did you know I like pancakes?" I questioned.
"Guess I know you better than you think," he smirked. I gave him a look.
"Oh come on, who doesn't like pancakes?" He said flipping one. He's not wrong. He set a plate of pancakes and I practically devoured them. I have to say it was nice having someone cook me breakfast. Once I finished I looked at my phone.

"Brandon, we have to be at school in 20 minutes," I groaned. I quickly got out of my chair and ran upstairs. I quickly changed into a white long sleeve and leggings with some tall boots. I brushed through my hair and quickly put some mascara on. I ran downstairs to see Brandon cleaning the kitchen. His hair sort of a mess and he was still wearing his same clothes from yesterday. I look at him and he runs his fingers through his hair.

"Ready?" I smile. He nods. "Great, I'll drive us to school," I said grabbing my keys. We both leave my house and get in my car. As I'm driving I talk to Brandon about his dad again.

"Last night...." I switched my blinker on.
"We got so drunk," he laughed. I laughed nervously.
"Yeah..." I said pulling into the school parking. I parked and we both got out and quickly made our way to class before we were marked tardy.

"I thought you weren't coming for a second," Pricilla said as I sat down. I thanked God that she didn't ask why Brandon and I came in at the same time.
"Class, please turn your 1st part of your project in one my desk," the teacher said. I grabbed my folder out of my bag and took it out. Brandon handed me a few more papers and I stapled them together and turned them in. Pricilla sat in her chair picking her nails.
"Did you turn in your project?" I asked.
"Anthony did," she said.
"Did you even do any work?" She looked at me.
"Oh course not, I paid him to do both of our work," she said smiling. I almost said something back to her but I kept my mouth shut and turned to the front.
"Want to hang out after school today?" She asked.
"I'm busy, I have dance," I lied.

After 3rd period I met up with Jesica and we walked to lunch together.
"Did you talk to Brandon?" She asked walking beside me. I nodded. She gave me a look.
"So....?" I lazily smiled at her.
"Nothing happened. He's fine. I'm fine. It's all good," I said.
"But...." She said waiting for me to burst into a rant.
"But....Pricilla is annoying the hell out of me," I said.
"What did she do this time?"
"She paid Anthony to do her work for the project," I said rolling my eyes.
"Well, that's Pricilla all right," she smiled. Once we got to our lunch table I stopped talking about Pricilla and sat down.

       After school I drove Brandon back to my house. We decided to hang out at my house. We were currently in my room. Brandon was laying on my bed, looking at my chandelier on the ceiling. I was sitting at my vanity organizing one of my drawers.

"Do you even use any of that stuff?" He asked as I held up a tube of lip gloss.
"Nope," I said tossing it into the trash can.
"You could by anything you want," He said looking at me upside down.
"What do you mean?" I asked confused.
"I mean, like old you would have bought clothes, makeup, and what ever shit you use, but now you don't spend any money on that...." He said sitting up.
"So you're asking what do I spend my money on?"  I asked. "I guess, nothing," I said.
"Come on, you can't just spend You're money on nothing, what about a car?"
"Brandon I already have a car," I said.
"Food?" He asked. My face brightened.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked.
"Depends on what you're thinking," he said
"I'm thinking we take a trip to the grocery store," I said smiling. Brandon jumped up and we left my room.

       When we got to the grocery store Brandon grabbed a cart and I stood on the end of it as we browsed the isles.
"Hmmmm, I'm thinking cereal for dinner," I said holding up a box of fruit loops. He smiled and I set it in the cart. We browse every isle and soon our cart get fuller and fuller of junk food. When we checked out I used my credit card and we used the cart to get our bags to my car.

       I open my trunk of my car and we start loading them in. I look at the cafe across the street and I spot Jesica. She's wearing her hair up and she looks likes she is walking towards someone because her face lights up. She's walking towards a girl with blonde hair. I didn't recognize her at all. I wondered if she even went to our school. I picked up another grocery bag. Jesica was smiling and then she leaned in and kissed her.....on the lips. I almost dropped the bag. Brandon noticed I stopped and he looked at what I was looking at. They broke away and they started for the door to the coffee shop. Jesica looked across the street and when she saw me her face dropped. I was in shock. How could she not tell me? She looked away from me and hurried inside.

"Was that Jesica?" He asked. I slowly nodded and finally put the bag in the trunk.
"Let's go," I said shutting the door. He nodded and walked to the passenger side. I got in and turned on the car. And backed out of the parking lot. As I drive in silence thoughts about Jesica races through my mind.

"Did you know?" He asked.
"No," I answered and I didn't say anything else.

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